The government appointed committee that's chosen the American company Be Mobile to bring competition in Solomon Islands says it offers the widest cellphone coverage in the fastest time.
Under the previous Telecommunications Act the market was limited to a single operator, but Parliament passed legislation in August to end this monopoly.
The Chairman of the Evaluation Committee, Michael Hemmer, says Be-Mobile beat two other foreign telecommunications companies, Digicel and Milestone Developments, to secure the tender.
"When we measured the applicants, Be Mobile was ahead in a couple of fields. Mainly their time to gaining coverage, so for instance Be Mobile will be moving very quickly to cover the Solomons with new service and basically the end result will be within 21 months, 82 percent cover."
Michael Hemmer says the committee is aiming to grant the licence within 10 days.
